Stop Being A Whore Or I'll Tell Mommy and Daddy

In times of economic strife many women are forced to resort to prostitution to pay bills, others are forced into it by cruel pimps, and some actively choose prostitution because they enjoy it. For those that want help leaving the sex trade we should do whatever we can to facilitate their exist, but for those that want to continue to work in this field we should support their choices.

Unfortunately globally the worth of a woman is often determined by what she chooses to do with her vagina. When women do not comply to a life of chastity they are often slut shamed. Yes it is the year 2008, but still yet women are deemed to be the property of their families until they are married off; such wonderfully progressive values.

The letter-writing campaign is aimed at reducing sex-for-hire in the former Soviet republic by bringing parental pressure to bear on prostitutes, said Aleksey Lazarenko, an internal ministry spokesman. “We inform the parents their daughter was arrested at the moment she was selling her body,” Lazarenko said. “As soon as the parents of one girl found out how their daughter was earning a living, there was such a scandal in the household, that (the prostitute) had no quiet at home for an entire week, and she quit the business,” he said.

So in its great wisdom the government has decided not to go after the Johns that exploit the prostitutes; of course it’s the dirty women that are at fault. It takes two people to engage in sex and apparently the men who feel that they have the right to purchase another human being somehow don’t qualify for public shaming. NICE. If there were no customers there would no prostitution. Isn’t it wonderful how the boys clubs is always looking out for itself.

Not only does the woman have to deal with the legal consequences of her actions, she must now deal with her families response. In patriarchal families were young girls are taught to keep the family vagina pure at all cost this notification policy could have terrible consequences. Where is the concern for the safety of these women? How many times must a woman be beaten or die at the hands of her family for the police to understand that this is not a good idea? Where is the respect for personal privacy?…Oh that is right women are eternally children and as such are not entitled to respect.

This new policy fails on epic proportions. It does not take into regard the safety of the women involved and further subjects them to social discipline for circumstances that might be beyond their control. If the government really wanted to help women leave the sex trade it would confront the reasons why women turn to prostitution in the first place. Slut shaming just reasserts patriarchal control over women’s bodies.